Moreska – A Battle Dance For The Ages

An attractive and powerful historical dance

If you’re planning to visit Korcula, you need to learn at least something about “Moreska”, a traditional local dance dating back hundreds of years. It’s basically a special kind of “love” dance involving two groups of dancers who are in a battle over a fate of a young woman.

Moreska’s roots lie all around the Europe of the 17th Century. In Spain’s Catalonia region there exists a dance with a similar name called “La Morisca” depicting a clash between Moors & Christians.

Moreska is really interested to look at, and the good news is that the dance is performed publicly very often during the summer months.

Performed only by males from Korčula – Moreska is featuring Red and Black armies to battle for return of Bula (woman), who was abducted by the Moro (Arab) King. Clashing and sparking swords in seven battles end with the Bula being freed from her chains and returned to her beloved Osman (Turkish) King.